India ready to take on England?

The selectors had a very narrow bank of top-notch players that they could choose from for the Tests

The selectors had a very narrow bank of top-notch players that they could choose from for the Tests

The die is cast. England are already here, practising and getting up to speed with sub-continental wickets. Meanwhile, the Indian team for the first two Tests has been picked, setting up what could be a cracker of a series.

The selection bottom-line

The new selection panel under Sandeep Patil wasn’t really expected to change things. It was only their first call of duty and they will have many more opportunities to chop and change. For the moment though, eight of the fifteen selected picked themselves, be it on form or past laurels. Form players include Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Umesh Yadav, R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha. MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan are indispensable at the moment.

The past comes into play with respect to Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, both skating on thin ice given their poor run in the last two years. For the two to not score big hundreds and give India a rousing start is a bit unnatural, and no Test team can survive without its openers firing. This will be a stern, final examination for the Delhi duo.

There is another Delhi player in the mix, Ishant Sharma. He has returned from injury and he missed the entire IPL season to get his ankles in order. In this age of finances governing cricket, that is a laudable example from the youngster. But he didn’t play against New Zealand and the former captain has made some noise over Ashok Dinda’s exclusion.

The return of Yuvraj Singh

Suresh Raina will not be getting any revenge for that 4-0 score-line in England last year. Because he has not done anything to merit a place in the Test squad, tweeting about future intent is not enough. Instead, fans will happily welcome Yuvraj Singh.

From a satisfying outing in the World T20 in Lanka, to a stupendous double hundred on his First Class return in the Duleep Trophy, and to taking five wickets against England in a practice game, he has shown both form and fitness that is needed at the international level. The stance is flowing, the sixes and fours are booming off his bat, he is fielding again at point, and the pie-chucking speaks for itself. Never mind what has happened to Lance Armstrong, this is one sensational story. And it helps his moral that he is the lone-hand for number six spot in the side. Unless, you count Ajinkya Rahane, who doubles up as an opener as well.

The other permutation is Sehwag coming in at number six. But for that to happen, a lot of things will have to go wrong. Sehwag will need to fail as an opener, Yuvraj will need to fail at his comeback and India will need to pick someone to partner Gambhir, who ought to be scoring some runs himself. All in all, if this situation arises, England will be pretty happy.

Question marks

In case India’s openers fail, the selectors have supplied two spare ones – Rahane, Murali and Vijay. The latter has shown some good form ahead in season opener tournaments, both Duleep and Challenger Trophy. But so did his competitors Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan. Mukund especially has been in superb touch, given that he also went to New Zealand with the India-A team and got runs there. Given the frailties of Sehwag and Gambhir, India should be looking at a long-term prospect. It is up to Vijay to answer his critics and move one ahead of Mukund, now or never.

The bigger quandary though is Harbhajan Singh’s selection. He hasn’t taken any wickets to merit this call-up. He is aware of the fact, given his statement of “bowlers shouldn’t be judged by wickets alone”. That he is still the third-choice spin-option reflects on India’s bare cupboard at the moment. Only in light of this fact is he in the team, and if he gets to play ahead of either Ashwin or Ojha, India’s sad fortunes on the field will continue.

Chetan Narula is the author of Skipper: A Definitive Account of India’s Greatest Captains.